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Q:
battery

asked by
Harry
on
June 03, 2016

is it legal or a fire hazard to extend the battery connectors ( - + ) because the battery i took off, the positive terminal is at the back of the battery on the right, the one i am putting on the positive is at the front and the connectors do not reach. so can i extend both + & - using the same thickness cable? thank you.

It is certainly possible and legal to extend the length of your cables to fit a particular battery.

However, I would strongly recommend taking the battery back to where you got it from and exchanging it for the correct battery. If the correct battery were installed in your vehicle this would save time and money as you would not have to extend the cables or purchase extra wiring to do so.

Also, if the cables are extended by simply adding wire rather than replacing the whole wire with a longer one, the connections may not be as good where the wiring was added and therefore could cause a no start condition later on. If the wires must be extended, always use a longer wire rather than attempting to add wire. Battery cables are very thick and splicing in wire to battery cables does not always create the best connection.

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